Thursday, May 24, 2012

Thing One - Keyboard Shortcuts

Five Things I Love about Keyboard Shortcuts:

1. Increased Processing Speed - It took me 5.8 seconds to highlight the title using the mouse and change the font style to bold using the icon on the drawing tool bar. Typing CTRL -B followed by the same letters took 1.3 seconds. 4.5 seconds per change in font style adds up over the course of a school year.

2. Decreased Distractions - As an ADD teacher, every time my eyes leave the screen increases the risk of jumping to another task. By keeping my hands on the keys and eyes on the screen, I can complete tasks more rapidly.

3. Saving Documents as a Pavlovian Response - What do I do at the end of every paragraph? Hit CTRL-S. I've trained myself to do it without thinking about it. I no longer live in fear of losing a mostly completed document when I kick a plug out under my desk. Recreating a document takes 15-20 minutes that I would prefer to be using to create new materials.

4. Formatting While Creating - Thanks to fun combinations like CTRL- C and CTRL - V, I can format checklists and tables while typing. I love doing this because I create documents in 75% of the time when I format in-line rather than coming back to it later.

5. The Simple Pleasures of an Easily Amused Teacher - Having a rough day? Write a line. Highlight the line. Hit CTRL- F3 repeatedly. The increase in morale I get from watching "Go Rebels!" morph through all the capitalization possibilities is amazing.